Matchmaking
by Tuzkreekman
Summary: What if Lily and James had asked not to be Heads? A tale of how Remus Lupin and Minerva McGonagall play matchmaker. In honor of Jily October.
1. Chapter 1

Lily hesitated at the door. Did she really want to go through with this? Giving up this opportunity seemed crazy, on the one hand. On the other hand, babysitting James Potter and acing the NEWTs did not go hand in hand... And James Potter was going to be Head Boy, she just _knew_ it. And if it wasn't him, it'd be Remus, or Severus, and in a way they'd be just as bad. (Not that she didn't love Remus. She just questioned his taste in friends. The Marauders would always be hanging around the Heads' Room and that was not a good omen for the NEWTs.) And Severus...yeah, it was probably best to just give up Headship. Nothing good could come of having that much responsibility with such important tests coming up.

Before she could change her mind, she knocked twice. McGonagall's voice floated through the door, saying, "Come in..."

Lily looked at the empty seats that she passed to get to McGonagall's desk for inspiration. No room for indecision. I must do this, and I must do this now, she thought.

* * *

><p>"James, are you sure you want to do this?" Peter asked worriedly. "You're giving up your only chance with her!"<p>

James clenched his jaw and made a show of covering his ears. "Padfoot, will you do Mr. Wormtail the courtesy of explaining my perspective, because obviously my explanations aren't getting through his thick skull."

Sirius, who had previously been leaning relaxedly against the wall, stood up. "Prongs, Wormy is right... I don't get you." At James' questioning glance, he continued, "You know that when I get a chance at a bird, I take it. Why don't you do something smart for once and copy me?"

Remus laughed from behind his Potions book. "Smart? Don't even start, Sirius. _How_ many times has James listened to you? _How_ many times has he failed 'cause of you?"

"What, so you agree with James' mad decision?" Sirius stared at Remus, exasperated.

Remus put his book down and thought about it for a moment. "It's not that I agree with him, per se... but I can understand his thought process," he stated calmly. "If he gets out of her way, then maybe she won't hate him as much. It'll give her some breathing room. Plus, can you _really_ see Prongs as a Head?"

"Hey!" James whined indignantly. The other Marauders stared at him skeptically.

"Anyway," Remus continued. "Let's leave Prongs to his decisions. I suspect that this won't matter too much in the long run anyway."

* * *

><p>It was summer, and Professor McGonagall was busy. She had a pile of letters to the parents of new students that weren't going to write themselves. So, in a way, choosing the Head candidates wasn't really on the top of her to-do list. Especially since her potential candidates were all playing a game of Tossing the Howler with the job.<p>

"It's just...NEWTs are so terribly important..." Minerva recalled Miss Evans' awkwardness in broaching the subject. "And all of the Head Boy candidates are not compatible with me...and really, you could do so much better than me... So please, Professor, anyone but me!" Lily finished hurriedly.

Minerva was, frankly, quite disappointed in Lily Evans at that moment. To put it simply, she believed that Lily was running. From James Potter. From Severus Snape. From responsibility. And as Head of the House of Lions, McGonagall hoped she was raising lions, and not cubs. However, she tried not to show her disappointment too much to Lily. "I'll...consider your view," the professor finally said. Then she quickly shooed Miss Evans out of her classroom, unsure whether she should follow through with Miss Evans' request.

Remus Lupin had been the next to approach the professor. "Professor, I think you should choose James as the Gryffindor candidate instead of me," he stated simply. Before Minerva could ask why, he continued, "I physically can't handle the responsibility. So James really is the only way to go. And... I think it's finally time. She'll cave." McGonagall's eyes widened in understanding, and she smiled. "There's a problem, though.

"James has asked Professor Dumbledore to take him out of the calling. And Lily mentioned she did the same with you," Remus stated matter-of-factly.

"Yes, she did..." McGonagall's voice drifted. Then, suddenly, "What I don't understand is, why do my students think they have any say in the decision-making process?" She huffed irritatedly, "Thank you, Mr. Lupin, for bringing up your concerns. I'll consider my selections carefully; that's all I can promise."

Remus, sensing dismissal, wished the professor a good day, and left.

Now Minerva was wondering if she was taking the decision _too _seriously. Mr. Lupin's solution was simple and efficient: override Miss Evans' and Mr. Potter's wishes and make them Heads. But aside from the fact that the two did not wish to be Heads, Minerva McGonagall had another reason to dislike the idea of Evans and Potter as Heads: she wasn't sure they'd behave.

Sure, James Potter could be a responsible Head, if given the chance. Lily Evans would be an even more responsible Head. But the two hadn't been Potions partners since their first-year, when James and Lily let their Fermenting Thoughtfulness potion explode during an argument. A new DADA professor accidentally paired the two up in their fifth-year, but was still severely regretting it. Yes, McGonagall could not think of the number of times Miss Evans and Mr. Potter had caused a disturbance in the halls or in a classroom...how would the two live together?

But still. Just because she nominated Potter and Evans did not mean they'd be Head Boy and Girl. The likelihood was too low. Mr. Snape was a much more viable option for Head Boy, and the female Ravenclaw prefect was a close second to Miss Evans in the running for Head Girl.

This thought calmed her. She would name Miss Evans and Mr. Potter to Professor Dumbledore as the Gryffindor candidates. After that, the responsibility-and the blame-was all on the Headmaster.

That was the best solution. Now she could get back to signing the stack of letters to the first years' parents. Oh, and she had all of her other students' school supply lists to sign too, didn't she...Professor McGonagall took a long swig of the drink sitting on her desk. After all, in a few weeks, she would have to actually deal with students, and couldn't drink at all.

A pity.

Students _did_ the darnedest things that just made you want to drink to relieve stress. Even Minerva had to admit she often craved Firewhiskey after dealing with the Marauders' pranks.

Off to work, then.

* * *

><p>The Headmaster had dozed off on his desk. Hogwarts was practically empty, and even he was prone to feeling lonely if left unoccupied for too long. Thus, Professor Dumbledore had taken to napping in his office, where his predecessors' pictures and his phoenix Fawkes could keep him company.<p>

A rustle of wings awoke him. Minerva's owl had finally come, with the list of the Gryffindor nominees for Head of House. The other Heads of Houses had sent in their lists weeks earlier, because they had simply nominated their prefects. But since Miss Evans, Mr. Lupin, and Mr. Potter had seen fit to meddle with the Gryffindor nomination, Minerva had a lot of thinking to do over the list of her candidates.

"Dear Albus,

I have chosen Miss Evans and Mr. Potter as my nominees. I decided to ignore their wishes because I hardly think they have the right to interfere in these proceedings. Please consider compatibility (or lack thereof) in your final choice of Heads.

I leave this choice to your experienced mind.

Good luck,

Minerva McGonagall"

"Dramatic as usual," Dumbledore chuckled. "It's not like the Head Boy and Head Girl are _that_ important in these times," he added darkly.

"Or maybe, they're even more important in these dark times, Albus," a painting spoke. An old Headmaster, whose name was long-forgotten. "When we introduced the roles, we chose them specifically to balance out the Houses. But right now, maybe you need a different sort of Head Boy and Girl..."

"Indeed, you are correct," Dumbledore answered, looking at the two names he had written on the pre-written Head Boy and Head Girl letters. "We need Heads who have strong ideals, in this age where wizards are losing theirs."


	2. Chapter 2

Lily hadn't _really_ felt the urge to curse in a long time. She could face even Petunia's rudeness and Potter's pranks with grace and patience. Well, ok, not the patience, but certainly the grace.

And yet, when the letter came, she did feel like cursing. Cursing Dumbledore, who had signed the letter. Cursing McGonagall, who had no doubt nominated her. Cursing Potter, for being Potter and the most likely Head Boy. Cursing Snape, for being the next likely candidate.

"Fu-alling, falling, falling." She caught herself in time, before letting anything out. Her grandmother was visiting the family, so she had Petunia's room, right next to Lily's. Mrs. Evans may have been old, but she had the sharp ears of an eagle-and she didn't approve of cursing.

Lily had been sitting at her desk, but now, she rather felt like falling into her bed and crying. So, she did just that.

* * *

><p>Sirius awoke suddenly, feeling uneasy and out of place. He absorbed his surroundings: he and James were on the floor of the upstairs hallway, right outside of James and Sirius' rooms. There were glasses on the floor, and a Scrabble board was carefully arranged on the floor. The letters were dancing around the hallway-enchanted. Sirius was leaning against the wall and a table, and James' head was on his lap. And Sirius needed to go to the bathroom.<p>

It took great skill to manipulate James' head so it rested on the carpet. After that, getting to the bathroom was a piece of cake.

Sirius felt hungry. So much for sleeping. Sirius crept downstairs, feeling guilty for having kept James up till 3 am. Drunk Scrabble wasn't really James' idea of fun.

It was 8 am, Sirius noticed the clock as he grabbed a Chocolate Frog from the pantry. Mr. and Mrs. Potter had both left for work already, at 7 am.

Sirius was consumed in reading his Chocolate Frog card-Rowena Ravenclaw-until he heard a flap of wings. An owl landed on the kitchen window, proudly holding an envelope. It looked around, then started flying up the stairs, towards James' room. James was still sleeping. Sirius chased after the owl, careful to mask his steps. Sirius didn't expect James up till 12 pm, at the earliest, and he didn't want to be responsible for waking James up early.

Sirius Black used his Quidditch-toned muscles to catch the owl. (He was no Seeker, but then again, the owl was no Snitch either.)

The owl screeched in protest. Let me do my job, it seemed to say. Sirius muffled the owl's hoots. "James is sleeping, Mr. Owl!" (He was trying to be polite, to please the owl, but he ended up just sounding cheesy.)

The owl looked at Sirius, and then appeared to think about what Sirius had said. It then gave a stern, McGonagall-like glance to him as it gingerly handed over James' letter. Then, with a polite hoot of goodbye, it flew off into the clouds.

Sirius couldn't resist. Prongs and him had no secrets between them, he wouldn't mind Sirius' curiosity. After a quick tug-of-war with his conscience, Sirius opened the letter.

First reaction: shock. Even after his debate with Padfoot and Moony about James' potential Headship, Sirius had trouble believing Dumbledore would _really_ make James Head. James didn't do responsible.

Second reaction: how will James react? He didn't want to be Head. I don't want to be the one to tell him. What do I do? Oh I know! I'll just hold an impromptu Marauders meeting without James and get Remus' expertise on this.

It was 8 am. That gave Sirius 4 hours to sneak out and come back in.

Easy peasy.

* * *

><p>"Why are we awake?" Peter moaned as he arrived into Moony's room, falling easily onto Remus' couch. Remus was crouched underneath his desk light, scouring James' letter. Sirius lay scowling on Remus' bed, impatient.<p>

"James made Head Boy," Sirius complained. "We have to get some sort of plan of action."

"We? What about James himself?" Peter asked.

"Remus told me to tell him immediately if James got Head Boy," Sirius said, shrugging. "I'm sure he must have some great prank in mind."

"Why are we pranking James?" Peter asked Moony.

"It only seems like a prank on surface, you two. But in fact...it's even better."

"Better than a prank?" Sirius repeated doubtfully.

As Remus explained the plan, the doubt on Padfoot and Wormtail's faces disappeared, replaced by eager grins.

**I set myself the end of October as the deadline for this fic. That didn't quite work out, so I'm posting what I have. If you read this and enjoy it, feel free to review anything small like "hi," or leave something longer. I hope you enjoy the premise... Happy Halloween. Jily will be missed but we can still read about them.**


	3. Chapter 3

It was September 1st. The Marauders were meeting at the station, but as of yet, only Remus was here.

"Hiya, Moony!" Wormtail exclaimed, overjoyed to see a familiar face. He lowered his voice, and asked, "We iare\i going through the plan today, right?"

"'Course," Remus replied.

"Remus!" a red-headed girl called out from beyond the crowd. Lily wrestled through the throng. "Oh, hello, Peter," she added. She was wearing the Head Badge, Remus noted with a smile. He realized he was unusually excited for his plan.

"Have you come to terms, finally, with Headship?" Remus asked, still smiling.

"Not quite," Lily frowned. "So you aren't Head Boy? I saw Sev-Snape, he wasn't wearing the badge either...Maybe it is the Ravenclaw Prefect then?" She looked hopeful.

Sirius and James approached the trio. "You were waiting for me, Evans? I'm flattered," James smiled crookedly.

Lily's expression became disgusted. "Bye, Remus, Peter, Black," she said civilly, and left.

"She's Head Girl?" James frowned. "I thought she asked not to be Head, Remus. Why did they listen to my request and not hers?"

"Who knows?" Remus asked rhetorically. "Professor Dumbledore's a confusing man."

"Man?" Peter asked. "I think at some point he ceased being a man, and is now a living Inferi."

The three other Marauders stared at Peter.

"What?" he asked defensively. "He's just... so old now. Don't you think?"

* * *

><p>The Marauders were settled comfortably in a compartment near the back of their train. But Sirius was bored, and knew it was time to put their plan in action.<p>

"Hey, mates, I'm thirsting for some female company...what say you we go find Evans' mates?" Padfoot asked.

"You do that, Pads, but I'm going to go ahead to the prefects' car after dropping you off there," Remus said.

James' ears perked up at the sound of "Evans." "Yes, let's go on an adventure."

"Adventure," Peter smirked (quietly).

* * *

><p>"Lily, you're such a bore," Marlene McKinnon whined. "Most would die to be a Head, and you're just... a zombie at the executioner's stand."<p>

"That doesn't make sense, Marly, why would a zombie be at the executioner's block?" Ellen Rhodes asked. "But, she's right, mate, your doom-and-gloom is going to overshadow our seventh year and we'll hate you for the rest of our lives."

Lily was in the corner of the compartment, sulking and hugging her knees. She looked out the window, at the passing scenery. "I just hope seventh year flies by, like this scenery."

The door to the compartment opened, and Lily turned to it, ready to order some snacks. Instead of the trolley lady, she saw the wide grin of Sirius Black entering through the door, followed by Peter, James, and Remus. "Hello, ladies, I guess you missed me, that's why it's so quiet in here," he said charmingly.

"Nah, Lily's just being a buzzkill today," Marlene stated plainly.

"How about James and I take Dr. Doom away from you, and leave you in the company of these fine men?" Remus asked, gesturing to Peter and Sirius.

Ellen blushed. "Sure, take her. She needs to go to the prefects' meeting, and we need some cheerful company."

"Elle! Marly! Are you really subjecting me to Potter's lunacy?" Lily exclaimed. They wouldn't meet her eyes as Remus pulled her out of the car.

Remus blazed through the corridor rather quickly. "Remus, _please_ tell me why we're taking Potter with us to the prefects' meeting?" Lily pleaded.

James was lagging behind the pair, but he heard the question. "Hey, wait, Moony, you're going to the prefects' meeting right now? Then I might as well go back to Padfoot and Wormtail!"

Remus stopped suddenly. "Lils, you go on ahead. You're right, I'll join you in a bit."

Lily smiled, agreed, and continued to the front of the train, where the prefects' compartment was.

"James...I know who Head Boy is," Remus started talking slowly.

James looked confused. "Is it Snivellus?" he asked, wondering why Moony thought he cared.

Remus reached into his back pocket and brought out a badge.

"You're Head?" James asked confusedly. "But you have your prefect badge on..."

"This...is yours." Remus handed James the badge. While James stared confusedly at the badge, Remus turned and disappeared, following Lily to the prefects' compartment.

* * *

><p>"So none of you guys are Head Boy?" Lily asked the four seventh-year prefects in front of her. "What does that mean? Who's Head Boy then?!"<p>

"No, actually, J-" Remus started to speak, only to stop when the door to the prefects' compartment opened.

"REMUS? What the hell do you mean I'm Head Boy?!" James shouted, oblivious to the other occupants of the room.

Everyone turned to look at prefect Remus Lupin, who began reconsidering his plan's viability. "Relax, man, it's all right, you're just the leader of the prefects for the next year. And you get to boss people around with fellow Head Lily..._and_ you get your own room in the Heads' dorms."

James looked around in utter despair. "Look, Snivellus, man, please, just take my badge; I don't want to be Head. Or... Andy, Mike (the two other male seventh-year prefects), anyone!"

Lily Evans folded her arms, unimpressed at her new partner. "Mr. Potter," she said so as to distance herself from the idea that James-JAMES-was Head with her. "Please kindly join me at the front of the room so we can explain our plan to our prefects."

James stared at L-no, Evans-and slowly walked to the front of the room. "Evans, what am I doing here?" He half-whispered.

She ignored him, putting on a comfortable look and attempting to act friendly to all present, especially J-Potter. "Hello, guys, sorry for the delay in the meeting," she said, her voice carrying well throughout the compartment. "You twenty-three prefects," (she was the twenty-fourth) "have the honor of leading your peers and underclassmen for the next year or more. Please carry on this duty with the diligence, respect, and pride accorded to this position. You have the ability to take points from students, but not from fellow prefects. Also note that misuse of privileges will be noted and your respective Heads of Houses will be informed. We will have a meeting Thursday evening at 5 pm in the Prefects office to discuss patrol schedules. Since there is an odd number of prefects now, we might be doing things a little differently."

James was slowly losing his shockedness as Lily went through her speech calmly. Once Evans paused, James added, "By the way, we forgot to introduce ourselves," he said, hoping Evans would not overreact at his speaking. (Evans was rarely calm when it came to him, the odd bird. And yet, she apparently didn't like him. He would never be able figure her out.) "This is your Head Girl, Lily Evans. And I'm your Head Boy, the illustrious James Potter."

Instead of acting embarrased for forgetting to introduce herself, or acting mad because James remembered, Lily instead smiled, disarming James for a moment before he collected himself. _Was this year finally going to be his chance?_ he thought to himself, not daring to get his hopes up.

"And that's all, folks!" Lily Evans brought the first prefect meeting of the year to an end. "Don't forget the meeting on Thursday; see you all then." She smiled widely.

As the prefects left the compartment, hoping to rejoin their friends before the train reached Hogwarts, only four people were left in the room. Severus Snape and Remus Lupin walked up towards James and Lily.

"Severus, what do you want?" Lily asked, uncomfortable at his presence.

"Potter, were you serious about giving up Headship?" Snape asked, ignoring Lily.

Before either of the Heads could react, Lupin responded. "No, sorry, James was just trying to absorb the idea." He then gave Snape a stern look, as if daring him to continue to pry.

Snape left the room with a dissatisfied look.

"Remus...I would have given it to him." James said shortly after Snape left.

To James' surprise, Lily frowned. "N-no, I think it's better with you," she admitted embarrasedly. "I...can't work with Severus anymore."

"Lily, Prongs, I think you two should discuss this Headship a bit, work out the plans. I'm going to go join Padfoot and Wormtail." Remus left the room without waiting for Lily or James' responses.

* * *

><p>"Padfoot, I hope you've discussed the plans with them instead of trying to get them to fall in love with you," Remus said dryly as he entered the carriage.<p>

Sirius looked back innocently up at Moony. "Of course, Moony; mates before dates, right?"

"What plan?" Ellen asked Remus, trying to avoid staring at Remus but failing. Peter was sitting next to her, while Marlene and Sirius was sitting across from them. Remus sat to Ellen's right so that she was sandwiched by two Marauders.

"OK, fine, I was getting to it, all right?" Sirius pouted.

"We're setting Lily and James up!" Wormtail announced excitedly. "Like, matchmaker style," he added defensively. "We're going to get Lily to realize she's into James too!"

"Interesting," mused Marly. "And we're doing this how?"

"We're going to ignore the Heads until they figure it out," Remus stated simply. "Coop them up together in the same dorm, and no friends..." He left the statement hanging, leaving the rest to his friends' imaginations.

* * *

><p>James and Lily were sitting on opposite ends of the compartment. As far away from each other as possible. There was a dead silence, as each struggled to figure out what to say.<p>

James finally spoke up. "I'm sorry," he said quietly.

"What?" Lily was broken out of her reverie by an apparent apology from James Potter. She must have misheard.

"I said, I'm sorry," he reiterated calmly. "I know you didn't want to be Head Girl because you didn't want to have to deal with a Head Boy. Especially a Head Boy like me."

Lily smiled uncomfortably. "I meant what I said; I prefer you as Head Boy to Severus. Even if you spend all year asking me out. And we both know Remus couldn't handle it. And at least I know you, as opposed to the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw prefects."

"Always looking at the glass half full," James muttered wistfully. "Hey, I only asked you out twice last year!"

Lily laughed. James grinned back, but then stopped himself. He didn't want to look stupid in front of Lily.

James remembered that they were supposed to discuss duties. Then he wondered out loud, "So what exactly does a Head Boy do again?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Just a warning: I'm going to go in depth into even Peter's mind here. Some may consider this taboo. But I think that Peter was important to the Marauders, until he turned, for whatever reason that he did. As a result, I'm hesitant to write him out of the story. **

**Recap: James just found out that he was Head Boy—a minute before the prefects meeting. Lily and James are by themselves, talking. The rest of the Marauders, Ellen, and Marlene concoct a plan to isolate James and Lily until things change.**

**Here goes nothing! **

Peter kept looking at the door, wondering when either James or Lily would come back. At first, when Remus was gone with them to the prefects' meeting, Peter had been enjoying Ellen's company. But now that Remus was back, Peter was the fifth wheel (Marlene and Sirius were hitting it off well on the other side of the compartment). Peter didn't enjoy being the fifth wheel.

When the Hogwarts Express finally arrived at Hogwarts, Peter was the only one who noticed that neither Lily nor James was back yet. Remus, Sirius, Ellen and Marlene shared a carriage to Hogwarts, leaving Peter to find carriage and company of his own.

* * *

><p>The Express slowed to a stop, and it was only then that Lily noticed how long James and she had been talking. She had explained the various duties of prefects and then the added duties of Head Boy, and then the two had planned out a sample patrol schedule for the next few weeks. Then they started talking civilly about their summers, and their upcoming classes. Both James and Lily had forgotten that they were supposed to head back to their friends.<p>

The Heads started looking for the Marauders, Ellen and Marlene. Of the five, they only found Peter.

"Where're the others?" Lily asked Peter.

"Only four to a carriage, so I'm the odd one out," Wormtail replied, sullen. "What took you guys so long? Prongs, you were supposed to come back after finishing discussing Head duties."

"We got sidetracked," James answered vaguely. "Sorry."

Peter was glad that he found James, and forgave him; Wormtail hadn't been looking forward to hitching a ride with random Ravenclaws, or worse, Hufflepuffs.

The three entered the carriage, but before the carriage started moving, someone else filled in the fourth seat. Stella Parkinson was an awkward seventh-year Slytherin. She was the most mutually disliked seventh-year; even her fellow Slytherins shunned her. Lily wasn't sure why, but there was a rumor about a scheme of Parkinson's going awry. _What could she have done so bad that even the Slytherins hate her?,_ the three Gryffindors thought to themselves, unaware that they were all thinking the same thing.

"Hi, umm, Stella," Lily was the first to greet her.

"Yeah, hello, how was your summer?" Peter joined in. He was glad for the added company. This way, if the Heads got distracted by each other, at least Peter had someone.

Stella replied to Lily and Peter warmly, though her awkwardness was plain and evident. But as the three grew deeper into conversation, Stella grew more comfortable and confident.

James watched as Lily and Peter tried to be nice to Stella, and though he knew it was probably bad of him, he couldn't help but feel left out. He knew Stella, and didn't have any inclination to join in on Lily and Peter's niceness. He wasn't wary enough of her to interject rudely into the other three's conversation, but he couldn't help feeling odd about the situation.

"Hey, so, Evans, we didn't discuss what our Head dorm password should be," James spoke to Lily as soon as it was polite to break her out of her conversation with Stella. "And, um, are you a shower-in-the-morning-type or shower-at-night?"

Lily was startled by James' sudden attempt at conversation, but slowly warmed into the conversation. She found that being civil with Jam—Potter was far too easy. She ought to be careful around the attractive—no, not attractive, infuriating—yes, infuriating—boy. Well, ok. Man. Infuriating man. She had to be careful around the infuriating man.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Sirius, I thought we were supposed to be ignoring James and Lily," Marlene suddenly said. She was the first to depart the carriage and was staring at the throng of students that was headed towards the Great Hall behind them.<p>

"Yeah, why?" Sirius replied distractedly, his attention more focused to Ellen and Remus's interactions than to the foursome that Marlene was looking at.

"Peter's with James and Lily… and is that last person…? Yeah, it is! They're with Parkinson? What's going on, Sir?" Marlene asked. **[A/N: Think "sear" when Marlene says "Sir."]**

It was the use of the nickname "Sir," that grabbed Padfoot's attention. He followed Marlene's line of sight. "Peter, that little…! And Stell? What's Stell up to?" He got caught up in musing, and almost missed the steps they were climbing.

* * *

><p>Marlene wasn't so sure about Remus Lupin's brilliant idea anymore. How exactly were they supposed to ignore their best friends? Already, Peter had succumbed to hanging out with James. Granted, he was the most spineless of the lot, but still. She wasn't sure she'd be able to ignore Lily, even if she didn't have to share a dorm with her anymore.<p>

When she and Sirius arrived at the front of the Gryffindor table, Remus and Ellen were already sitting, absorbed in conversation. (_They_ hadn't loitered around the hall trying to understand Stella Parkinson's presence near the three Gryffindors like Marlene and Sirius had.) Marlene and Sirius sat across from each other, leaving enough room between themselves and Remus and Ellen for their missing friends.

"My eyes may be deceiving me, but is _Ellen_ flirting with _Remus_? And is he flirting back?!" Marlene asked Sirius, dumbfounded. They spoke loudly enough that they could hear each other across the table, not fearing that Remus or Ellen could hear them in the loud, crowded Great Hall.

"Well, we _have_ been ignoring them for so long, they must have gotten to know each other pretty well," Sirius said, not sure how he should react to the thought of Remus having a social life. The Marauders _were_ Moony's social life.

Marlene laughed at Sirius' distraught look. "I thought you were enjoying yourself with me!" she joked. "I didn't realize you swung that way."

Sirius quickly wiped his look off his face. "No, Marls, that's not—that's not it!" he said uncomfortably. "It's just…I'm all for James and Lily, and I'm not going to try to intercede in poor Peter's love life. But Remus…I'm worried."

"I'm not sure if I should be offended here," Marlene replied, "speaking as one of Ellen's best friends." She spoke lightly, but Sirius saw a dark, muffled anger in her eyes, threatening to overtake her.

Sirius was about to reply, but just then, Peter, James and Lily filled in the gaps between Remus, Ellen, Marlene and Sirius.

* * *

><p>Peter was rethinking this matchmaking plan. Fine, James and Lily together, he didn't mind, but what with Remus and Ellen joined at the hip on one end and Sirius and Marlene joined at the other end, Peter was going to end up alone all year! Especially if James and Lily took ages to get their act together, which, knowing Evans, was likely to be the case.<p>

While Stella Parkinson had been nice, Peter wasn't comfortable with the thought of replacing his mates for a girl. Even if his mates seemed to be doing just that.

"Ha-llo, everyone," Peter declared loudly. "Thanks a lot for ditching me earlier!" He gave his six fellow Gryffindors a tight-lipped smile, visibly miffed by the rejection.

Only Remus had the decency to look guilty, while Sirius made a comment about Peter looking "awfully cozy with Stella."

Mates. Can't live with 'em. Can't live without 'em.

* * *

><p>The rest of dinner carried on in a similarly awkward fashion. Because Lily and James were seated between their friends, the "ignore James and Lily" plan was failing. Peter kept trying to bring everyone together in a conversation, so as not to be completely left out, and the four others in Plan Matchmaker ignored Peter's attempt and tried to carry on with the plan. Everyone went to bed a little hurt, a little unsatisfied, and very tired.<p>

* * *

><p>Marlene couldn't wait to ask Ellen what was going on between her and Remus.<p>

Ellen was excited by Remus' sudden friendliness.

Sirius was worried by Remus' sudden friendliness.

Remus was unaware of his sudden friendliness.

Peter was annoyed by Sirius' continuing friendliness, and further annoyed by Remus' sudden friendliness.

James and Lily were completely confused. Everyone they knew was acting weird, and each of them had an odd, sinking feeling that they, too, were acting a bit out of place.

The rooms James and Lily shared were magnificent. But neither of them noticed as they each retreated to their respective bedroom.

September 1st, 1977 was over. No one had quite expected it to go the way it did. Everyone knew that it was to be the beginning of a long year. But they were unaware of just how long and complicated that year would be.

**Do not be wary of giving feedback!**

**BTW I know I've gotten 3 reviews. I've seen them in my email. But I don't know how to see them on FF. Any tips? Thanks!**

**Next time in ****_Matchmaking_****: Professor McGonagall relates her views on James and Lily's progress, and the situations of her seventh-year Gryffindors…**


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